The present invention relates to electronic devices and, more specifically, to electronic device package structures and methods of fabricating the same.
Electronic devices, such as semiconductor dies, are conventionally enclosed in plastic packages that protect the semiconductor die from hostile environments and that enable electrical interconnection between the semiconductor die and a next level of assembly, such as a printed circuit board (PCB) or motherboard. The elements of a typical electronic package include a conductive leadframe and an integrated circuit or semiconductor die. In order to electrically connect the semiconductor die to leads of the leadframe, conductive structures are necessary to connect bond pads on the semiconductor die to the leads. A hard plastic encapsulant material typically covers the other components and forms an exterior package body. In the past, the bond pads on the semiconductor die and the leads were connected to each other by connective wires forming using wire bonding techniques. However, wire bonding has been a costly and complicated process, and the resultant wire bonds have been a source of reliability issues and have added undesired thickness to package bodies because of the need to cover them.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a structure and method that provides an improved electrical interconnection between electronic chips and the substrates used to support them. It is also desirable to have a structure a method that is cost effective, easy to integrate into assembly process flows, and reliable.
For simplicity and clarity of the illustration, elements in the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale, and the same reference numbers in different figures can denote the same elements. Additionally, descriptions and details of well-known steps and elements may be omitted for simplicity of the description.